Tuesday, November 2, 2010

I Forgot

I forgot what it is like to be insanely sleep-deprived with a sick toddler on your hands.
I forgot what it was like to wish for the morning in the middle of a very long night, and then be totally sorry when it arrived.
I forgot what it was like to want to cry when the Little One cried...and that was just because.
I forgot about the emotional toll of high fevers and tepid baths and rocking, rocking, rocking a fretful baby back to sleep.
I forgot that the reason I originally started taking my showers at night when everyone was in bed was because there was NO TIME in the morning.
I forgot what it was like to have a fussy child that would not let you out of his or her sight for one second, not even to let you go to the bathroom.
I forgot that brushing the hair or the teeth might be a luxury.
I forgot that this was the reason I used to look more than a little thrown together some days because I only had time to grab the first thing in the form of clothes I could find to put on my body.

I am so sorry tired young mothers everywhere, but this grandmother simply forgot.
So I prayed for you unknown, exhausted women who might be at the end of your rope as I drove the sick Little One back to her own momma.

You can be sure that I totally remembered exactly what time she needed to go home.

2 comments
:

This made me smile, as I sit in my clothes I threw on (from the floor, from yesterday) with my uncombed hair (yes, washed last night) feeling lucky that I got to sleep uninterrupted from 1:30 to 5:30 this morning. I think I'll go to the bathroom now and brush my teeth - with company, of course!

Ah yes. Thank you for the perspective from my future. Is it true we forget? Wow. Sometimes it feels like it will never end and then one day I woke up and realized my oldest was in first grade and wasn't home cuz she was at a sleepover! It happens SO fast!